Through the Looking Glass

Waking Alive

Scarlett woke slowly, her eyes squinting open in the bright light. She felt a pounding pain in her head and nearly every other part of herself. Every beat of her heart, pump of her life blood, sent a new aching throb through her already damaged body. Her vision was hazy as her eyes slowly adjusted to the light.

She didn't remember much just yet; only her name and a few details of the terrifying wreck that she had been in. She blinked a few times as her vision started to clear and looked around, still to disoriented to attempt moving any part of herself to her bidding. She spotted a nurse coming in and let out a small grunt-like sound. The nurse froze and gawked at the girl for a moment, obviously shocked by her waking. A few seconds later the nurse yelled towards the hall for others and they came rushing in, quickly assessing the sickly looking girl in the hospital bed.

They all seemed shocked or baffled by her as she looked up at them in confusion. She opened her mouth, managing to croak out one word- "Water." One of them happened to be able to make out what she said so the nurse rushed off and came back a moment later with a glass of cool water to quench Scarlett's thirst. She held it to the girl's lips and tilted it a bit so the young patient could slowly sip at the refreshing liquid.

Her mouth felt like a desert and the water was like a hurricane, coming to finally relive the drought. She felt a bit of the water go down the wrong way, choking slightly, and began coughing but she almost instantly regretted it as a sharp pain shot through her head. The nurse stepped back and set the glass down on a side table. She looked around at the unfamiliar faces and finally managed to speak. "What....happened?" The young girl ask. They all share grave looks, debating what to tell her.

Finally all but one of the nurses left. The woman, probably in her mid to late 50s, takes a seat beside Scarlett's bed. Scarlett looked up at her expectantly as she began to explain everything in a gentle tone. "You were in a horrible accident." The nurse began. "You died on impact and shattered most of the bones in your body. The man who crashed into you happened to be a doctor and managed to revive you. You were brought here. None of us thought you would make it through the night, but you somehow did. You went into a coma and you have been out for nearly three months now.... I guess you can see why we are all so shocked at your awake." She said with a slightly nervous laugh.

Scarlett stayed silent, completely shocked by the woman's words. She knew she had been in the accident, but everything else was completely new to her. Did her parents know? Or even care if they did know? It didn't really matter to her. She would be moving out of the house in a few weeks anyways and they would barely hear from her again.

Scarlett look at the nurse again, a question slipping from her lips. "How long until I can leave? Now that I'm awake I mean." She asked, slowly propping herself up. The headache from before was slowly but surely disappearing and her eagerness to get up was clawing at the back of her mind. She wouldn't be able to last much longer in the bed without flopping around like a fish out of water. She was still really thirsty so she reached over to grab the glass but noticed all the tubes in her arm and stopped moving.

There had to be at least ten different machines attached to the girl as she sat there, frozen. She scrunched up her nose, getting a bit queasy at the sight and quickly looked away, grabbing the water. She sat back again and begin to slowly sip at it as she watched the nurse. "Well, you should be able to leave in anywhere from one week to a month." The woman said. "It depends on how healed you are and how strong you are." Scarlett nodded and thanked the nurse as she got up and left. She felt sleep overtaking her once again so she finished off the water and lay back down, drifting into a peaceful sleep.